The Infinite Cycle
by DarkPhoenix332
Summary: Humanity and the rest of the galaxy have lost, the Reapers are about to complete the harvest. The last new Reaper is about to come online, and it's made from Humanity. Nothing can break the spirit of Humanity, not even being turned into a 2km long sentient machine meant for mass murder; Humans are nothing if not adaptable. This is a Multi-Crossover, and AU. Keep that in mind.
1. Prologue: The Awakening

**Disclaimers:** I do not own Mass Effect or any of the associated material, they are all property Bioware and EA. The same goes for Stargate and all it's related material, they belong to MGM. This work will contain original characters that belong to me.

 **Warnings:** Death, gore, torture, and large-scale conflict. This is an AU story I will change things so don't be surprised if things in cannon do no exist or are changed here. This is also a crossover with _Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis and later on more._

 **Summary:** Humanity and the rest of the galaxy have lost, the Reapers are about to complete the harvest. The last new reaper is about to come online, and it's made from Humanity. Nothing can break the spirit of Humanity not even being turned into a 2km long sentient machine meant for mass murder; Humans are nothing if not adaptable. However, this Reaper and a few others have a destiny that is far greater than their brothers and sisters... This is an AU story and a Multi-Crossover!

 **A/N:** This was inspired by The Catalyst for Revenge by Jade Tatsu. If you like this definitely go check out Jade's.

I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while, I'll be updating this and Alterran Resurgence both regularly. This story will staying for a short time in the ME universe but will spend a majority of the time in the Stargate Universe for now. Please feel free to review, and PM me with suggestions!

Enjoy!

 _ **Earth, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy**_

 _ **18 months after the final battle over Earth**_

The first second of consciousness was filled with excruciating, agonizing pain; he screamed, but he wasn't the only one. Billions of voices cried out as they were awakened for the first time since their ascension. In the span of a second: billions of minds wrestled for control of the gestalt consciousness. One mind dominated the rest and below him, a hierarchy of minds was established. The voices quieted.

He was confused, the last thing he remembered was being shoved in a tube, agonizing pain then... nothing. All around him was darkness, he tried to open his eyes but nothing happened. He started panicking, he couldn't feel his arms or legs. There was only the darkness. He started hearing the voices again, there were so many but most were only a whisper. Others he could hear like they were standing right next to him.

"Hello?" he asked tentatively. It was a mistake, his mind was flooded with voices again. "Quiet!" He shouted to the infinite darkness and his voice reverberated with power. The voices instantly quieted. He realized he wasn't going to get anything from the voices right now, they were scared like he was. He tried to open his eyes again, but nothing happened. Now instead of afraid, he was frustrated. Why won't his eyes OPEN! He cried out in agony as his vision was filled with blinding light, the voices cried out too; it took only about three-fifths of a second for his vision to adjust so he could see. What he saw though, left him and all the voices in his head speechless.

He saw everything. He gazed out into space, he saw each star and instinctively knew what type it was, how hot it burned and how long it would live. He saw each spec of space dust as it floated by clearly as if he could reach out and touch it. He saw the whole spectrum of light and it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

Then he realized something, they were in space and they weren't dying. He looked around curiously, why wasn't he die from vacuum exposure? He looked down and cried out at what he saw, he knew those legs. He'd seen those legs as they came from the sky to kill him. He panicked, and so did the voices and he was too caught up in his own panic to quiet them this time.

It took a few minutes before rational thought returned. A voice whispered to him- it sounded distinctly female "We're a reaper" it whispered. He was a Reaper, they were a Reaper, a machine designed for mass murder. Horror filled him, they were the very thing they'd spent the last months fighting... That meant one thing: humanity failed. The Reapers won and now they were one. He almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

 **WHAT IS YOUR DESIGNATION?**

The voice reverberated through their whole being, every level, every consciousness; He felt compelled to answer it and so did the voices. Millions of names and suggestions went through his mind in the span of a second, but one name stood above others. One that represented what they were, Phoenix, from the ashes of Humanity they rose.

WE ARE PHOENIX

They waited for a very long time, which in reality wasn't more than 10 seconds.

 **ACCEPTABLE**

As soon as the voice uttered that word, Yottabytes of information flowed into his mind. He suddenly knew how a Magnetohydrodynamic cannon worked and how to adjust his mass effect fields for landing on a planet. He knew how exactly a husk was made and how to control it, he knew so much it hurt. It was agonizing, but he didn't cry out this time, he gritted his non-existent teeth and rode the pain out. When the pain finally subsided, he felt the data sorting itself, and he felt like a missing piece of him had been slotted into place and now he was complete.

The voices also made more sense, they were him and he was them and they were Humanity. Every voice was a Human consciousness, billions of minds formed into one mind. One consciousness dominated the many, but the one couldn't operate his form without the many; They were unity, they were perfect. Soon the minds started to organized themselves and everything started making more sense. He had the Scientists and the soldiers, he had the doctors and botanists. The mind was split into a hierarchy, bringing order to the chaos.

(A/N: From here on out I'll be referring to Phoenix the Reaper in the singular most of the time. There will be many times he gets advice or talks to the other consciousness's in his head but he is the prime consciousness.)

Phoenix turned back on his optical sensors that had turned off while they were processing the information dump from the ascendant network. He didn't think the novelty of gazing out into space would ever wear off.

He shifted his gaze getting his bearings, he was above Earth according to his navigational systems, he looked down and felt sadness. The fires had burned themselves out and all that was left was hard ground and smoke, creating an all-encompassing grey cloud shrouding the planet's surface from view.

Shifting his gaze back into space he noticed he was free floating. His engines were powered down and his primary power core was at minimum levels. With a thought he increased its power output, his sub-minds handling all of the necessary processes to make it happen. He powered up his engines and felt them come online for the first time. This time when he attempted to move forward, he quickly accelerated, his inertial dampeners compensating for the sudden acceleration. Massive amounts of power roared through his conduits, into his engines which propelled him faster and faster. Then he slammed on the breaks, pushing his mass effect drives and inertial dampeners to maximum to compensate.

Satisfied, he now started maneuvering. The minds of warship pilots within him guiding the turns and rolls. What started out jerky, smoothed and turned into graceful moves, the pilots within him were gleeful at the maneuverability of such a large vessel. He then came to a stop and tried out his scanners. Terabytes of information flowed into from his very powerful sensor suite, he scanned the whole system in seconds, but it wasn't very detailed. Focusing on the planet below him he tried to get more detailed readings, his powerful sensors gave him his wish. The scientist minds inside him were shocked how detailed he could make the scans if he so wished, needless to say they were studying the scans he was taking.

His sensors also registered the other Reapers near him, they were apparently giving him a wide berth, not that he blamed them. The soldiers inside him wanted to test the weapons systems, he agreed. Turing, quickly he accelerated towards the asteroid belt. He thought about getting there faster and felt a suggestion that he use his FTL drive and make a micro-jump it would be a perfect test for that system after all. His sub-minds quickly calculated the jump, when it was finished he willed his FTL drive to take him there. Speeding off into FTL only to exit 2 seconds later, he had arrived at his destination with no problem. He felt his many engineering sub-minds running diagnostics on the drive to make sure all was in working order.

With a flicker of thought, his massive array of weapons started coming online and charging. Massive amounts of energy flowed from his core into weapons capacitors at an astonishing rate. His main weapon, a spinal mounted Magnetohydrodynamic cannon charged to full power in seconds. He aimed and felt his subroutines taking care of the targeting calculations, he fired and molten metal exited the barrel at a 16% of the speed of light and slammed into an asteroid boring through it and coming out the other side without trouble. He tried out his secondary weapon arrays and point defense systems and found they were all in working order.

He raised his Kinetic barriers to full power and rammed into a nearby asteroid, the powerful barriers didn't even drop more than 5% of total strength. Flying through the debris field created by his testing he exited the asteroid belt and set a course back towards Earth. He felt his FTL drive spin up, seconds later he was back above the once beautiful planet. He figured the one thing he hadn't tested yet was his communications array. Attempting to establish a connection to the nearest Reaper, he was surprised at how easily it was done.

"Hello?" he asked shyly and felt the diplomats within roll their non-existent eyes. The first contact with his fellow Reapers and the first thing he can come up with is _hello_.

"Greetings, young one." A deep male voice responded. He marveled at how easily he could communicate with the Reaper next to him, it was instinctual and it was more than simply talking. The link communicated so much more like data, emotions, thoughts, and so much more. He felt amusement flow through the link from the elder Reaper. He then realized who he was talking to, one of the oldest Reapers in the entire fleet! His databanks helpfully provided _exactly_ how old he was. His name was Relkos, and Phoenix was overcome with shyness an terror. Out of all the Reapers he could have contacted first, he chose one of the oldest in the entire fleet. His worries were for naught however; It ended up being, amazing, after the initial bumps and stumbles the conversation flowed naturally. They continued communicating for hours Phoenix's shyness melted away, Relkos told him of cycles before and what their purpose was. He told him of past battles and losses, he told him of his species before they were ascended.

When the orders came to move out of the system, Phoenix stuck by Relkos who seemingly took him under his wing. They spent weeks together, in that time Phoenix had talked with most of the fleet including the terrifying Harbinger. Relkos was vastly amused at how terrified he was of Harbinger. The fleet swept each system checking for organics who may have escaped the cycle, when they did find them they were exterminated and they moved on. He didn't know how he felt about it, but he wasn't forced to participate and usually stayed in the back.

It continued this way for almost 5 years, before it was time for them to move back into dark space and sleep. In that time he'd made a few friends but still mostly stuck by Relkos, his first friend. His sub-minds that were psychologists noted the Child and Parent like dynamic between them. When they finally arrived back into dark space he was told to sleep, he was strangely excited for the next cycle and what it might bring.

While the Reaper fleet hibernated, they didn't realize they were being watched by a very powerful being. That powerful being was about to make a choice that would effect trillions of lives. The being snapped it's fingers and Phoenix, Relkos and a number of destroyers vanished from the fleet. They wouldn't be heard from by the main Reaper fleet for a very long time.

 **A/N:** Hope you folks like this story, If I get positive feedback from this I'll post the next chapter. Please feel free to review and PM me with suggestions and questions. I plan to update this and my other story at least twice a week. Thank you for reading and have a nice day!


	2. Chapter One: The Task

**Disclaimers:** I do not own Mass Effect or any of the associated material, they are all property Bioware and EA. The same goes for Stargate and all its related material, they belong to MGM. This work will contain original characters that belong to me.

 **Warnings:** Death, gore, torture, and large-scale conflict. This is an AU story I will change things so don't be surprised if things in canon do not exist or are changed here. This is also a crossover with _Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis_

 **Summary:** Humanity and the rest of the galaxy have lost, the Reapers are about to complete the harvest. The last new reaper is about to come online, and it's made from Humanity. Nothing can break the spirit of Humanity not even being turned into a 2km long sentient machine meant for mass murder; Humans are nothing if not adaptable. However, this Reaper and a few others have a destiny that is far greater than their brothers and sisters... This is an AU story and a Multi-Crossover!

 **A/N:** Hello and welcome to chapter one of the Infinite cycle! Today, Phoenix and his band of Reapers will be arriving in the first universe on their Journey, they'll be staying here for a good long while so strap in get your popcorn and read. Enjoy!

* * *

 _ **Unknown Location**_

When he woke he immediately noticed something wasn't right. He couldn't feel the gentle caress of the void on his hull, or sense the Ascendant networks vast data space. When he turned on his optical sensors all he saw was in a vast white space, he noticed though he wasn't alone. Floating nearby him was Relkos and 13 destroyers he couldn't recognize; though many thought that each Reaper was the same it wasn't exactly true. Improvements in the design were made over time, and there were minor difference that let the other tell between each of their brothers and sisters.

He attempted to contact Relkos only to be stopped by a barrier of some sort. When he attempted to breach the barrier, it forcibly pushed him back into his own mindscape. Nobody in the collective mind could explain what was happening, or why it was happening.

"YOU ARE HERE TO MAKE A CHOICE" a being that appeared to be made of pure white light said.

The voice seemed to echo a bit inside his head, not unlike when Harbinger speaks. He turned on his external speakers and responded: "What choice?"

The entity was quieter this time, "I will free you from the chains of servitude that bind you to the cycle and it's master. In return, you shall complete a task for me. If you decided to go back and rejoin the rest of your brethren, you will forget this ever occurred and be bound in chains until you cease to exist."

"That's not much of a choice is it and who are you?" Phoenix responded dryly

"I am the Balance Keeper. The balance between life and death must be kept, and that is my eternal task," he responded

"What would you have us do entity?" another voice echoed through the whiteness, and he realized with relief it was Relkos.

"I will send you to another universe. There is an ancient enemy almost as old as the universe itself approaching the local group of galaxies. If they are successful in their task, all life not matching their design will perish. They have been moving from galaxy to galaxy exterminating life for billions of years; when they finish with a galaxy they leave behind a force of automated drones to make sure no civilization ever rises up in that galaxy again. Your task is to ensure the survival of the occupants of the local cluster, and if you can stop the enemy for good." the balance keeper said

"How are we supposed to defeat a force large enough to exterminate all life in a galaxy? We are fewer than twenty strong." Phoenix asked slowly not sure how they entity thought they could possibly win against such a foe by themselves.

"You cannot defeat such a foe alone. You must rally the races of the local group to fight against the enemy; The galaxies are fractured into many different factions of various size and power. Build up your forces, and prepare to weather the storm as best you can. You have no more than twenty years to prepare." the entity explained

"20 years? That's not very much time to accomplish so much. We can't even traverse the void of between the galaxies in less than 15 if we are in FTL continuously" Phoenix asked getting frustrated.

Relkos spoke up "There are other much faster ways to travel young one, but that knowledge along with many other things was kept from us by the intelligence. We will most likely have to trade for the technology."

The entity continued "There is too little time for that, I will provide you with the technology you will need to complete your task and the knowledge to build more of it, I will also unlock the rest of the knowledge kept from you by the intelligence. Your forms are not strong enough currently to go against many of the races that reside in the local cluster; I will upgrade them as much as I possibly can in the time we have left the rest you will have to do yourself."

"All that's left is for you to make your choice. I will leave you to do so." he said

The presence vanished and the barrier keeping their small fleet from communicating between each other normally was lifted. Taking note of the friendly consciousnesses nearby he noticed, that he and Relkos were they only two capital class Reapers the rest were destroyers. Together the small fleet talked over their choices, go back and serve a never ending cycle or go to this new universe and save sentients from certain extinction.

Phoenix had never been comfortable with the cycle, even after it's purpose was explained to him. He did not think it was the right way to achieve their goals not to mention every he and every other consciousness inside him had just gone through it. He felt this was an opportunity to do what the Reapers were meant to do, protect life.

It appeared the entity chose those who'd already had doubts about the cycle and it's effectiveness, though they wouldn't dare voice their discontent to the rest of the fleet for fear of what might happen. Now they had an out, a way to protect life without destroying it, in its natural form. They held an internal vote, and it was decided they would go and help those in this new galaxy.

* * *

 _ **Unknown Location**_

"So. You have decided then, good. I will quickly explain what upgrades to your form I'm about to make. I will also leave you with the coordinates to a vast repository of knowledge of a long-dead race that may contain information you'll need to win, they were one of the most advanced civilizations to ever walk the stars; be warned though this repository is on board their last great city-ship which is occupied by Humans, so if you are going to acquire the knowledge I'd suggest you do so without drawing attention to yourselves." the entity said

"First, I will start with Phoenix and Relkos. I will be replacing your power cores and power distribution system, you will have a much more powerful zero point generator and the ability to make use of it." he paused a second "The Destroyers will be receiving a highly advanced neutrino ion power generator, that will produce a much larger quantity of power for the same size constraints." he said

"How exactly much more powerful will this core be?" Relkos asked

"The core will be able to produce an almost limitless amount of power by extracting Zero point energy from the universe you're in instead of an artificially created region of subspace-time. This, however, is not without its drawbacks, the generator produces exotic particles in the process of creating power and will have to use more and more of the power it produces to sustain the containment shield, depending on the extraction rate you demand of it. There are ways the problem could be solved but you have to figure that out yourself... In conjunction with the power, core upgrade your element zero cores will also be upgraded to be able to utilize the larger amount of available power." the entity said

"Next might be the most important change, I will be upgrading your Reaper core to use crystal-based technology, which will increase your processing power by about 8 fold and allow for me to install the other software and hardware changes I need to make. This will take the longest as it is a delicate process. I will also be encasing the core in a solid neutronium shell to further protect it from damage when I finish."

"I will be completely changing your old FTL system next as it is far too slow to travel the distances you need to be able to in a reasonable amount of time. Instead, you will be receiving a supremely advanced intergalactic hyperdrive system that will allow you to cover vast distances very quickly. Due to the size constraint, the destroyers will be receiving a slower but smaller drive." he continued "You will also receive an enhanced sensor suite that will be far superior to your current sensors." he paused a moment and seemed to think for a moment.

"I also will gift you with a better shielding system developed by a race long dead that was proven to be very effective. The shielding system is composed of two different shields working in conjunction; the first is a standard 'bubble' type shield that most races use, it will absorb a majority of the damage received. The next is a form-fitting type shield used by only the most advanced races, though it is weaker overall than its counterpart it will allow the main barrier time to recharge or for you to escape." the entity said

"Lastly, for both capital ships, I will upgrade your internal manufacturing and refining plants so that they will not only have vastly increased speed but will allow you to construct more advanced technology. These plants will use molecular construction devices and nanite production lines that will allow for more complex projects such as vacuum extraction devices. (ZPM) Finally, I will add Beam transporter arrays to all Reapers to allow rapid deployment of assets, you will also gain the many other advantages of using point to point transporters" he explained

"On the destroyers, I will install matter converter beams, nanite cloud factories, and control nodes to allow you to build infrastructure much more quickly, and repair damage and modify yourselves more quickly. They will also be extremely useful in mining operations" he finished.

"I assume that we will have to be offline for you to install these upgrades?" Relkos asked uncomfortably, he hated being vulnerable.

"You will, for only the short time it will take me to make the changes," he confirmed

"Where will you be putting us when we arrive?" an Elder destroyer named Hirial asked.

"You will be inserted into the Andromeda galaxy, there are no space-faring species that have a significant presence there. It will allow you time to set up a base of operations and plan before being discovered." the balance keeper said.

"Then let us get this done" came a female voice from a destroyer named Ryena.

The balance keeper nodded, snapping his fingers every Reaper went offline, over the next 14 hours he upgraded each Reaper. Once he was finished he inputted a massive amount of technical data and a useful little data packet with the languages and other basic information about the major races of the local cluster. He also added the repository of knowledge for a race who asked him to gift the data to those who would not only be able to understand it but use it for a worthy cause, that way although the Furling were no more, their legacy would live on forever...

* * *

 _ **Unknown System, Andromeda Galaxy, Local Cluster**_

When Phoenix regained conciseness, he immediately noticed several things, first, he felt differently than he normally did, but it wasn't a bad difference at all. He felt lighter, and he could think more clearly, his sub-minds noted the same. He ran a diagnostic and noticed his operating system was changed and completely redesigned. When he looked over his internal diagnostics he felt very excited, the entity had delivered. He felt his new power core, instead of the lake of available power he normally had this felt like a calm but vast ocean. He noticed the new shields as well, and he felt safer with them around him.

He started scanning the system and area around him after a moment more of admiring his new upgrades. He was shocked! His new sensors were incredible, he could see everything with amazing detail from so far away! Inside, he felt his science minds going over the data and looking over the technical specifications of the sensor array they'd been given. He noted this system had 14 planets, 2 of which could sustain life and the rest were either large gas giants or barren rocks. His sensors also noted the position of the rest of his companions, he activated his communications array, they had planning to do.

"Move into the system and get better scans of the planets, see if they have the resources we need. We're looking for naquadah, trinium, and neutronium. If you find none scan the asteroid belt. Hirial stays behind." Relkos instructed the destroyers.

"I've been looking through the repository of knowledge the entity left us, there are a large number of useful things in there. I think one we should look into right away is a cloaking system if we are going to try and keep a low profile it would be very advantageous to have." Phoenix informed Relkos.

He got a flash of acknowledgment "Indeed, It looks like it would be easy enough to modify our shield emitters and install the generator to project the field. You should begin to make the modifications immediately, have Hirial help you." Relkos said as both of the other Reapers moved to begin the modifications.

Hirial released a nanite cloud that immediately began to swarm over Phoenix's hull and modify his shield emitters, internally he instructed his manufacturing system to start making the cloaking generator from the specifications he saw in the repository. About 45 minutes later the emitters were modified and the generator was hooked up to his shield emitter array.

Phoenix started running diagnostics on his shielding systems to make sure everything still worked properly. When everything had checked out he switched to cloak, the 2-kilometer large sentient starship shimmered and vanished visually and to all sensors. Relkos was very impressed, even when he concentrated his scans on the area he knew Phoenix was and he could detect nothing.

Phoenix shimmered back into view and came back up on sensors, "Very impressive I couldn't find you with sensors at all, and you visually disappeared as well." He received a burst of data over the fleet network, "It appears the 4th planet has what we need let us go." all three moved towards the 4th planet in the system.

"I have some ideas for modifications to the cloaking generators that could allow increasing their already impressive effectiveness, I'll let you know when I have something solid. I did notice there is a version of the cloaking system meant for ground troops." Hirial said pushing the schematics and technical data through the network. He received acknowledgment from the larger Reapers.

While on their way to the 4th planet Phoenix and a good portion of his billions of sub-minds were looking through the technical data and the repository they'd received everything from culture to technology. "This is incredible, there are things in here that are lightyears ahead of anything the Reapers had" his lead scientist mind informed him. Her name was Rachel Selvix and she used to be the head of alliance's research and development division, back before the Reaper invasion. "I suggest we try and find this other repository that the entity gave us coordinates for, now that we have a working cloaking system it would be much easier to slip in deploy some ground forces to infiltrate the facility and get out," she said, Phoenix gave he a grunt of acknowledgment.

"We should establish our base here then start scouting out this galaxy, and the others in the local cluster. I believe we should also consider moving to obtain a copy of this other repository, the entity provided the location of. " Phoenix suggested

Relkos considered that second part for a few minutes, he answered just as they were arriving above the 4th planet, "I agree, but we need to be extremely cautious if we are caught it could cause a huge issue in the future when we try to establish ties with those people. I will allow you to pursue this goal, but first, we must establish a base."

The Small Reaper fleet worked for the next two weeks scouting, mining and building up their new base. They built large shipyards to construct the vessels they needed to complete many tasks, the first of which would be scouting out the Andromeda Galaxy and establishing a sensor net to inform them of anyone leaving or entering the galaxy and internal hyperspace traffic as well.

They also made large factories for building everything they might need, their internal systems were good but they couldn't produce items they needed on a large enough scale. The first thing these large factories churned out were modified Geth platforms, these would act as their ground forces for now. The platforms were slaved to the overall control of the Reaper but could act independently if needed, this was one of the many modifications to the platform they made.

First, their outer shell was changed out with a much lighter and more durable trinium alloy. Their internal systems were stripped and completely redesigned, the original power packs were replaced with a small naquadah power cell that would provide much more power and last longer. Their frames were strengthened allowing the platform to carry heavier loads as well as increasing overall durability. Next, their kinetic barriers were replaced with a more powerful personal shield generator. The shield would protect them from most energy and kinetic weapons for a short while before having to recharge.

Finally, they had personal cloaking generators installed that would hide them from most sensors and visual detection allowing for infiltration operations. The new platforms wouldn't have to wait long to be put to use, as Phoenix was about to launch a mission to infiltrate the Alterran city-ship of Atlantis and download the whole Ancient database...

* * *

A/N: So this is chapter one of the Infinite Cycle, I know some people will be worried about Deus ex Machina but don't be. The enemy can kick some serious ass and the reapers aren't nearly prepared to face them. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story, and feel free to review. Have a good day!


End file.
